Rotatable vending gate for vending machines



J 1968 M. W. NEWBERRY 3,362,579

ROTATABLB VENDING GATE FOR VENDING MACHINES Filed Oct. 19, 1966 2Sheets-Sheet 1 v WITNESSES INVENTOR Mf f v Meigs W Newberry I ATTORNEYJan. 9,-1968 M. w. NEWBERRY 3,362,579

ROTATABLE VENDING GATE FOR VENDING MACHINES Filed Oct. 19, 1966 v 2Sheets-Sheet 2 m1 FIG.6.

Patented Jan. 9, 1968 3,362,579 ROTATABLE VENDING GATE FOR VENDINGMACHINES Meigs W. Newberry, East Longmeadow, Mass., assignor toWestinghouse Electric Corporation, Pittsburgh, Pin, a corporation ofPennsylvania Filed Oct. 19, 1966, Ser. No. 587,907 3 Claims. (Cl.221-115) The present invention relates to vending machines and moreparticularly to a rotatable vending gate or cage for effecting therelease of a lowermost article in a vertical stack of articles.

'Rotatable vending gates adapted to be positioned beneath and to oneside of a vertical stack of articles with one or more release rodsradially carried thereby so that one of the rods may be movably held ina supporting position beneath the lowermost article of a vertical stackof articles are well known. In order to vend the lowermost article, thegate is rotated by an angular amount sufiicient to remove the supportingand release rod from the supporting position beneath the lowermostarticle and to allow the lowermost article to drop to a vending positionwhile at the same time to move the next radially position supporting andrelease rod into supporting posi tion beneath the next lowermost articlein the vertical stack of articles.

Recent developments in the soft drink business have resulted in thepackaging of soft drinks in either cans or bottles. A canned soft drinkcan of a given fluid content is considerably shorter than a bottle ofthe same fluid content. Vending machines may be arranged to vend eitherbottled or can drinks with the same general arrangemen-t of vendingmechanism. However, the capacity of a given machine when vending cansmay be considerably increased over its capacity for vending bottles byarranging the short length cans in two tandem-positioned verticalcolumns whereas the longer bottles would only be contained in a singlevertical column. Obviously, when vending cans from two tandem-positionedvertical columns, it is desirable to alternately vend the lowermost canfrom respective front and back columns for each respective vendingoperation. Therefore, in a vending machine that is to be convertiblefrom an arrangement for vending from a single vertical column of bottlesto provide a convertible arrangement of vending gate for effecting thedifferent required vending actions.

It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide arotatable vending gate that is convertible from one form for alternatelyand successively vending the lowermost article from a respective oneeach of two tandem-positioned vertical columns of short length articlessuch as cans or the like to another form for successively vending thelowermost article from a single vertical column of long length articlessuch as bottles or the like.

A feature of the invention is the provision of rotatable vending gatecomprising two cage members carried in tandem positions on a singleshaft to be mounted in a vending machine. Each cage member may compriseone or more spider members carrying a number of equiaxial position ofthe shaft with the tandem-positioned cage members thereon, the keyportions of the shaft will be engaged with the similar spider memberaperture surfaces to thus key each of the tandem-positioned cages in apredetermined angular relation to each other on the shaft. Thus thekeyed positions of the cage members relative to each other may be suchthat the release rods of both cages are in alignment with each other forvending from a single vertical column of long length articles such asbottles or are in staggered angular positions relative to each other foralternately vending from front and back tendem-positioned verticalcolumns of short length articles such as cans for each requisite amountof angular rotation of the gate member during a vending cycle.

Another feature of the invention is the provision of axially spacedcircular surface portions on the central shaft with a diameter notgreater than the minimum distance between opposed key surfaces on theshaft so that the shaft or one of the cages thereon may be axially movedrelative to each other from the normal axial position to an adjustingposition to bring the circular surface portions of the shaft intoregistration with the central apertures of the disk members of the onecage member to thereby unlock such cage member for repositioning itsangular position relative to the angular position of the other cagemember following which the shaft or cage member may be returned to thenormal axial position with the key surfaces locking both cage members inthe newly adjusted predetermined angular relation to each other.

Further objects, features and the attendant advantages of the inventionwill be apparent with reference to the following specification anddrawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic and fragmentary view of the lower end of avending machine vertical storage column having a rotatable cage typegate member of the invention for controlling the vending release of thearticles;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view, partly in section, of theconvertible rotatable vending gate of the invention in the form with thecage members in the predetermined angular relation to each otherrequired for alternately vending short length articles such as cans fromtwo tandem-positioned vertical columns of articles;

FIG. 3 is a section on the line III-III of FIG. 2 as seen in thedirection of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing the convertible vendinggate of the invention in the form as adjusted with the cage members inthe predetermined angular relation to each other for the vending of along length article such as a bottle from a single vertical column ofbottles;

FIG. 5 is a section on the line V-V of FIG. 4 as seen in the directionof the arrows;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIGS. 2 and 4 but showing the front cage inan intermediate angular position with the central shaft moved axially tothe adjusting position from the normal keyed position; and

FIG. 7 is a section on the line VI'IVII as seen in the direction of thearrow of FIG. 6.

Referring to the drawings, FIGURE 1 shows the lower end of a verticalcolumn of articles such as bottles or cans. The vertical column isprovided with funnel-shaped side walls 10 and 11 at the lower endthereof so that a corded stack of articles such as the cans 12, 13, 14and 15 may be funneled to the single can width outlet for controlledvending by the operation of the rotatable vending gate generally shownat 20. The rotatable vending gate 20 is mounted on a central shaft 21which is rotatably positioned beneath and to one side of the outlet endformed by the column funnel walls 10 and 11 and the arrangement is suchthat the lowermost article such as the can is supported by the radiallypositioned supporting and release rod 22 of the cage member 20. When thecage member is rotated counterclockwise by a sufficient angular amountto be later described in detail, the can 15 will be released while thenext lowermost can 14 will then be supported by the supporting andrelease rod 23. In order to obtain the required amount of angularcounterclockwise movement for the rotatable vending gate 20, areciprocal shaft connected to a bell crank 31 may be provided. Thearrangement of reciprocal arm 30 and bell crank 31 actually include aform of oneway sprag clutch (not shown) which will produce apredetermined angular amount of clockwise rotation for the shaft 21 eachtime the bell crank 31 is moved in the counterclockwise direction butwill not produce a corresponding clockwise movement of the shaft 21 whenthe reciprocating arm 30 and the bell crank 31 are moved back in theclockwise direction. Many forms of such one-way clutch arrangements arewell known in the art and therefore in order to simplify the presentdescription and the drawings, the details of the clutch arrangement forinterconnecting the reciprocating arm 30 and bell crank 31 to thevending cage shaft 21 have been omitted.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawing, the rotatable vendinggate of the invention is comprised of the central shaft 21 and first andsecond tandem-positioned cage members generally shown at 20 and 25. Thefront cage member 20 includes one or more spider members such as thefront spider member 20a and the rear spider member 2% While the rearcage member includes one or more spider members such as the front spidermember 25a and the rear spider member 25b- Each spider member 20a, 20b,25a and 25b is provided with a central aperture such as that shown at200 for the front spider member 20a. It will be noted that the centralaperture 20c is provided with a hexagonal shape which is formed by aneven plural number of equiangularly positioned key surfaces such as thekey surface 29d. It will also be noted that the central supporting shaft21 is provided with at least two axially-spaced hexagonally-shapedsections 32 and 33. Stated another way, the hexagonal-shaped portion 32of the shaft 21 is comprised of a plural even number of equi-angularlypositioned key surfaces with a key shape complementing to the shape ofthe central apertures for the cage members 2011 and 20b. Similarly theaxially-spaced key portion 33 of the shaft 21 is also provided with aplural even number of equi-angularly positioned key surfaces. Since, asstated before, the key surfaces for the shaft portions 32 and 33 arecomplemental in shape to the apertures for the spider members of thetandem-positioned cages 20 and 25, the relative angular positions of thetwo tandem-positioned cages 20 and 25 carried thereby is predeterminedso long as the shaft 21 is in the normal axial position relative to thecages 20 and 25 as shown by FIG. 2 of the drawing. In other words, thefront cage 20 is keyed to the shaft 21 by means of the key surfaces 32and the rear cage member 25 is keyed to the shaft 21 by means of the keysurfaces 33.

As previously mentioned, the front cage 20 includes a plurality ofequi-angularly positioned article support and release rods 22, 23 and 24which are carried in radial positions about the shaft 21 by the frontand rear spiders 20a and 2%. Similarly the rear cage member 25 includesarticle support and release rods 26, 27 and 28 carried in radialpositions equi-angularly about the shaft 21 by the front and rear spidermembers 25a and 25b. With the front and rear cages 20 and 25 positionedin the staggered angular relationship to each other as shown by FIGS. 2and 3 of the drawing it will be seen that article release and supportrods are provided for controlling the vending alternately from front andback tandem-positioned vertical columns of articles such as shown by 10,15 and 40. It should be understood that the angular rotation for theshaft 21 during each vending operation is equal to the angular amount ofthe spacing between the front cage release rod 22 and the rear cagerelease rod 26 which when the cages are in the predetermined angularrelation as adjusted for vending from two tandem-positioned columns is60. Thus when the vending cage shaft 21 is rotated the first angularamount of 60 for a first vending operation the lowermost can 15 of thefront vertical column of cans will be released While at the same timesupport rod 23 is moved into supporting relation beneath the nextlowermost can 14 of the front column. Also during this first angularmovement the rear support rod 26 remains in a supporting positionbeneath can 40 of the rear vertical column of cans.

Upon the next successive vending operation, the rear support rod 26 ofthe rear cage 25 will be moved from supporting relation to the lowermostcan 40 of the rear column or cans allowing that can to be vended whileat the same time the front support rod 23 remains in a supportingposition beneath the then lowermost can 14 of the front tandem column ofcans. Also, at that time, the rear support rod 27 is moved intosupporting position beneath the next lowermost can in the rear column ofcans. Thereafter upon the third vending operation, the front release rod23 of the front cage 20 will be moved from supporting relation to thethen lowermost can 14 of the front tandem column of cans allowing thatcan to be vended and at the same time the rear cage support rod 27remains in a supporting relation to the then lowermost can in the rearcolumn of tandem-positioned vertical columns of cans.

It will be noted that the number of support rods for each cage is equalto one-half the number of equi-angular positioned key surfaces for theshaft and spider apertures. Thus with the hexagonal shaft as shown anddescribed, each cage member can comprise 3 equi-angularly and radiallypositioned support rods and the angular rotation required for each vendWhen vending alternately from front and back tandem-positioned verticalcolumns of cans is equal to the angle between adjacent hexagonalsurfaces, i.e. 60.

For purposes of enabling the predetermined angular relationship betweencages 20 and 25 to be changed, the shaft 21 is provided with two axiallyspaced unkeyed surface portions 51 and 52 which may be generally of acircular shape having a maximum diameter not greater than the minimumdistance between opposed hexagonal surfaces of the key portions 32 and33 of the shaft 21. 'One end of a coil spring 53 is connected at 54 tothe shaft 21 and the other end at 55 to a collar 56 abutting the spidermember 20a of the front cage 20 so that in effect the force of thecompression coil spring 53 maintains the shaft 21 and the front cage 20together with the rear cage 25 in predetermined normal axial positionsrelative to each other as shown by FIG. 2 with the key shaft surfacespredetermining the angular relationship between the front and rear cages2t and 25. Upon moving the shaft 21 axially to the right to the positionshown by FIGS. 6 and 7 of the drawings, the unkeyed portions 51 and 52of the shaft are moved into registration with the apertures for thefront and rear spiders 20a, 20b of the front cage 20. Thus the frontcage 20 is unkeyed from the shaft 21 and is free to be rotated to anintermediate position as shown by FIGS. 6 and 7 of the drawings or to anew predetermined angular position which will be registerable with thekeyed surfaces 32 of the shaft 21 when the shaft 21 is allowed to returnunder the force of the compression spring 53 to the normal position asshown by FIGS. 4 and 5 of the drawings. Thus in such manner the relativeangular positions for the front and rear cages may be adjusted to besuch as to place their article support and release rods in alignmentwith each other as shown by FIG. 4 of the drawing so that rods 24 and 27are in alignment with each other as is also the case with articlerelease rods 23 and 28 together with the article release rods 22 and 26.Thus it will be understood that the vending gate of the inventioncomprising the tandem-positioned front and rear cages 20 and 25 may beconverted to a form for vending a lowermost article from a singlevertical column or relatively long articles such as the bottle shown at60 in FIG. 4 of the drawing.

It is of course apparent that the angular spacing between the releaserods with the cages adjusted for vending the long articles is now twiceas great as the spacing between alternate releasing rods in the tandemrelease adjusted cage form previously described. Therefore, whenarranged in the cage form shown by FIG. 4 of the drawings for vending asingle long article, the rotatable vending cage shaft 21 must be rotatedan angular amount equal to twice the amount as required for the previousalternate vending of tandem-positioned articles, i.e. 120 as compared tothe 60 angular movement. Many arrangements for providing the requiredincreased angular rotation for the vending cage shaft 21 will occur tothose skilled in the art and one extremely simple way in which this maybe accomplished is to reciprocate the arm 30 and the bell crank 31 twiceduring each vending cycle, it being assumed that the counterclockwiseangular movement of the bell crank 31 during each reciprocation of thearm 30 is the amount of 60 as would be required for the vending oftandem-positioned articles. In other words, assuming the angularcounterclockwise rotation of the shaft 21 each time the arm 30 isreciprocated is always equal to 60, then when vending a single longlength article the bell crank 31 would be reciprocated twice for eachvending cycle to provide a total angular movement for the vending shaft21 equal to 120 which is the angular spacing between aligned ones of therelease rods 24, 27, 23, 28, 22, 26.

It should be understood that the invention is not limited to aparticular configuration for the spider members 20a, 20b, 25a and 25bfor the respective cages 20 and 25, nor is the invention limited to aparticular number of vending release rods carried by each cage. So longas the number of vending release rods are equi-angularly positionedabout the shaft 21, and so long as the number of keyed surfaces is equalto twice the number of vending release rods and are also equi-angularlypositioned about the shaft 21, the convertible features of the inventionwill be provided. Although the article release gate of the invention hasbeen shown for use with a funnel for a corded stacked column ofarticles, it should be obvious that the vending gate may be used with anoncorded vertical column of articles. It should also be understood thatmore than two tandem-positioned vending cage structures may be carriedon a single rotary shaft to provide a convertible rotatable vending gatefor more than two tandem-positioned columns of articles by an obviousapplication of the geometrical teachings of the invention.

Various other modifications will occur to those skilled in the artwithin the spirit of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A rotatable vending gate that is convertible from a form foralternately vending the lowermost article from a respective one each oftwo tandem-positioned vertical columns of short length articles to aform for vending the lowermost article from a single vertical column oflong length articles comprising, a shaft having at least twoaxially-spaced portions with a plural even number of equi-angularlypositioned key surfaces, first and second cage members adapted to bemounted in normal tandem positions axially on said shaft, each cagemember having one or more spider members with a central bore having keyportions shaped to complement the key surfaces of said shaft, eachspider member supporting a number of equi-angularly and radiallypositioned article release rods equal to one-half the number of keysurfaces on said shaft, and the length of said shaft and the locationsof the spaced portions of key surfaces thereof being such that saidfirst and second cage members may be normally positioned axially intandem relation to each other thereon with the key surfaces of saidshaft engaging the complemental key portions of the central bores of thecage spider members to predetermine the relative angular positions ofthe article release rods of the first and second cage members.

2. The invention of claim 1 in which said shaft is provided with one ormore axially-spaced circular surface portions of a diameter not greaterthan the smallest distance between-opposed key surfaces of the keysurface portions of said shaft whereby said shaft and one of said cagemembers may be moved relative to each other axially from a normalposition to align said circular portions with the apertures of thespider members of said one cage member to thus permit such cage memberto be rotated into a predetermined desired angular position relative tothe other cage member and to be maintained in that angular positionafter said shaft and one cage member are axially returned to the normalpositions thereof.

3. The invention of claim 2 in which resilient means is provided betweensaid shaft and the spider members of said cage members to maintain saidshaft and cage members in the normal axial position thereof relative toeach other.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,488,288 3/1924 Roth 221- X1,580,594 4/1926 Fried 221115 X 3,165,231 1/1965 Heiser 221-115 FOREIGNPATENTS 319,139 9/ 1929 Great Britain.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner.

1. A ROTATABLE VENDING GATE THAT IS CONVERTIBLE FROM A FORM FORALTERNATELY VENDING THE LOWERMOST ARTICLE FROM A RESPECTIVE ONE EACH OFTWO TANDEM-POSITIONED VERTICAL COLUMNS OF SHORT LENGTH ARTICLES TO AFORM FOR VENDING THE LOWERMOST ARTICLE FROM A SINGLE VERTICAL COLUMN OFLONG LENGTH ARTICLES COMPRISING, A SHAFT HAVING AT LEAST TWOAXIALLY-SPACED PORTIONS WITH A PLURAL EVEN NUMBER OF EQUI-ANGULARLYPOSITIONED KEY SURFACES, FIRST AND SECOND CAGE MEMBERS ADAPTED TO BEMOUNTED IN NORMAL TANDEM POSITIONS AXIALLY ON SAID SHAFT, EACH CAGEMEMBER HAVING ONE OR MORE SPIDER MEMBERS WITH A CENTRAL BORE HAVING KEYPORTIONS SHAPED TO COMPLEMENT THE KEY SURFACES OF SAID SHAFT, EACHSPIDER MEMBER SUPPORTING A NUMBER OF EQUI-ANGULARLY AND RADIALLYPOSITIONED ARTICLE RELEASE RODS EQUAL TO ONE-HALF THE NUMBER OF KEYSURFACES OF SAID SHAFT, AND THE LENGTH OF SAID SHAFT AND THE LOCATIONSOF THE SPACED PORTION OF KEY SURFACES THEREOF BEING SUCH THAT SAID FIRSTAND SECOND CAGE MEMBERS MAY BE NORMALLY POSITIONED AXIALLY IN TANDEMRELATION TO EACH OTHER THEREON WITH THE KEY SURFACES OF SAID SHAFTENGAGING THE COMPLEMENTAL KEY PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL BORES OF THE CAGESPIDER MEMBERS TO PREDETERMINE THE RELATIVE ANGULAR POSITIONS OF THEARTICLE RELEASE RODS OF THE FIRST AND SECOND CAGE MEMBERS.